School Buses Stall In Cold, Drivers Use Personal Cars To Warn Kids

LITTLETON (CBS) — Bus drivers in Littleton used their personal cars to ensure that students got to school on time Tuesday.

Superintendent Dr. Kelly Clenchy got a phone call about 7 a.m. from the bus company saying that seven buses would start, but they wouldn’t stay running. The buses would idle, sputter and then stop in the bitter cold.

The bus company didn’t feel the buses could consistently run and safely transport children to school at that time, so Clenchy ordered a two-hour delay.

Bus drivers will drive the routes in their cars and ensure that all students have appropriate supports.

Some of the school bus drivers were then asked to take their own cars and drive the routes just to make sure there were no children standing outside in the cold waiting for a bus.

If that was the case, the drivers were instructed to tell the kids there was a delay and to go back inside. The superintendent said if a child could not go inside, the bus driver was ordered to call on the radio and a police cruiser would come to transport them.

(Photo credit: David Robichaud – WBZ-TV)

Clenchy later clarified that none of the drivers were picking up children in their personal cars at the bus stops, nor were they asked to.